Status update

Well its official, I'm now A+ certified.

I've been studying off an on for these exams for several years, but because of financial reasons, Ive never been able to afford to take them.  Well, I took them, and passed them.  So now I get to wear the logo you see here.  Not a big deal really, many more of these to come by the end of the program.



After this semester, I'm exactly half way through my Masters program.  What a ride!

Recovery and Grief

Its been a tough few weeks for the Hall household.

First Dr. C's death (the subject of a separate blog post) and then my father-in-laws death a few weeks ago.

The family loaded into the car and drove from Nebraska to New York for the funeral.

Then a few days later we had to load back up in the car and come back.

Never mind the fact that my wife is grieving the loss of her father.

School started again, and so by Monday 3/22 I'll be a student and professor again.

Both schools had their spring breaks in consecutive weeks so I was going to have two whole weeks to catch up on what I was behind around the house, but with dads funeral, I used most of that time going and coming from New York.


Ah well.  Such is Life.

The quiet power of teachers

Dr. Michael Paul Crosslin 1940-2010


Dr. Mike Crosslin was my High School History teacher.  I can't say that learned alot of history from him, but I did learn something important.  Dr. Crosslin was an amazing musician.  One day in High School I casually mentioned that there was a Jazz concert at Oklahoma State University that I wanted to attend but had no way to get there.  Dr. Crosslin said that he had won two tickets to that very concert and offered to take me.  My father was his boss back then and we made the arrangements.  I have been a quietly passionate classical and jazz lover ever since.  Thanks Doc.  You will be missed.

The 9 principles

I'm copying this from the web site of the 912 project at www.the912project.org

Thought it was worth sharing:

1.	America Is Good.
2.	I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
	God “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected  on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right  which Heaven itself has ordained.” from George Washington’s first Inaugural address.
3.	I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
	Honesty “I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue  enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of  all titles, the character of an honest man.” George Washington
4.	The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate  authority,not the government.
	Marriage/Family “It is in the love of one’s family only that  heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we  cannot be happy without the endearing connections  of a family.”  Thomas Jefferson
5.	If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind  and no one is above it.
	Justice “I deem one of the essential principles of our  government…equal and exact justice to all men of whatever  state or persuasion,religious or political.” Thomas Jefferson
6.	I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but  there is no guarantee of equal results.
	Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness “Everyone  has a natural right to choose that vocation in life which he  thinks most likely to give him comfortable subsistence.”  Thomas Jefferson
7.	I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I  want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
	Charity “It is not everyone who asketh that deserveth charity;  all however, are worth of the inquiry or the deserving may suffer.”   George Washington
8.	It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to  share my personal opinion.
	On your right to disagree “In a free and republican government,  you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude; every man will  speak as he thinks, or more properly without thinking.” George Washington
9.	The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they  answer to me.
	Who works for whom? “I consider the people who constitute a  society or a nation as the source of all authority in that nation.”  Thomas Jefferson

Cooking and Life

My wife tried a new recipe for dinner tonight.  Its amazing how the heat of an oven can blend flavors that don't seem to have anything in common.

The meal was chicken but the marinade it was cooked in was interesting.  A blend of cranberry sauce (with whole cranberries), Catalina salad dressing, and onion soup mix.

Before baking my wife let me taste the sauce, and I wasn't sure what to think.  After the oven did its trick I was surprised.  It was really good.

How does this relate to life?  Sometimes God mixes things that don't seem to go together and then the heat or pressure of some problem, or struggle blends these things and the result is better than we imagined.

Is God doing that for you?  He seems to be doing that for me.

On high winds and their effects

Today we have a National Weather Service high wind warning.  While walking my dogs I was knocked around pretty good.  I found that I couldn't always move the direction I wanted.  My dogs weren't happy with the weather either but they seemed less effected by the wind than I was.  Could it be because they were closer to the ground than I was?  The other problem I experienced was the snow blowing in the wind.  With wind blowing that fast the falling snow wasn't really falling, it was blinding.  I couldn't see that well and I just had to trust that I knew where I was and what was around me.  That wasn't too hard since I've walked my dogs around that block almost daily.

While walking the dogs in the blinding wind, tossed to and fro I had an epiphany of sorts.

Ephesians 4 7-16 NIV:
 ⁷But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸This is why it says:
   "When he ascended on high,  he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." ⁹(What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? ¹⁰He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) ¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

 ¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
 
¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

The wind in the spiritual sense in this case is capable of blinding us, and blowing us to an fro away from the truth.  The only way we are able to withstand this wind is to know who we are in Christ so that when the wind does come, and we can't see, we really don't need to see.  Since we know where we are and what is around us.  We do this through the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit.

Yet not us, but Christ in us.

Additional work without the additional pay

I'm sure everyone with a job can relate to this, so I thought I'd post it.

The school where I teach is moving to an all electronic system.  Over Christmas break the online registration system went live and now students register for their own classes.  Our drop/add schedule change process is still paper.

They just added a student notification system.  This is a way for the computer to send early warning letters to students who are in academic trouble.  I honestly don't mind, but the process is an amazing pain.  Its clear that they didn't involve a professor when they designed the system.

So now I have to do this on top of my other duties and of course no extra pay was awarded for the extra work.

Oh well, I can't complain too much, I could be unemployed after all.